Farms settle suits on using immigrants over Black US workers

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Two agriculture businesses in the Mississippi Delta and some Black farm workers have settled the workers’ lawsuits. The suits claim the farms hired white laborers from South Africa and paid them more than the local Black employees for the same type of work. Federal court records show the two lawsuits were settled in December, with terms of the settlements remaining private. Rob McDuff of the Mississippi Center for Justice is one of the attorneys for the workers. He says this discrimination shows “the age-old problem of exploitation of Black labor in America and particularly in the Delta.”